Thoughts on Texas: Myths, Legends and Lies from the Libertarian Center of the Universe

Thoughts on Texan freedom.

3/8/155:16 pm

Published: March 8, 2015Updated: June 2, 2018

By Nathan Swartz

Free Traveler Resources

How to travel full-time, make a living on the road, roadschooling & more...

What's 2 + 5?

The following was originally written on Instagram but I liked it a lot and wanted to post it here, too.

Texans tell me things like “We’re the only state which can legally fly our state flag higher than Old Glory” and “We’re constitutionally allowed to recede from the U.S. at any point”. It’s false, a bit silly, but a mentality completely in line with my own. Which is to say, I love the idea that, given my natural right of freedom as an American, I can exercise that right in ways that technically and legally aren’t allowed.

Texas and me, we just don’t give a flabbergast. We stand by the idea that our belief, as skewed from reality as it might be, that our argument in a court of law where we stand up, boots and all, and proclaim pure freedom as our only defense, should cure us of any wrongdoing. They say the legislature here only meets once every two years, and when they do, they typically do so to remove laws rather than make them.

People think of Texas as a haven for Republicans, but really it’s a Libertarian society. A “leave me alone and I’ll extend the same favor” kind of neighborhood. Where everyone waves as they pass by in their old pickups. And it is, in many ways, its own nation. They still celebrate their own “Independence Day”, alluding that yeah, Texans are Americans, but more like the rest of the country is lucky to have them, like we’re all the mild mannered family who allows a wild and crazy friend to hang around because he beguiles us with his eccentricities, his flair, and at any given moment that we might take issue with his unorthodox ways, he can as easily annex himself (presumably taking a bedroom or two’s worth of our home with him). I love this state. I think I’ll get a license plate and an address here.

Published: March 8, 2015Updated: June 2, 2018

Nathan is the Editor-in-Chief around these parts, and has been traveling by train, bike, VW Bus and Airstream since 2008. He's on Instagram.